James Corbett of corbettreport.com presents a new weekly podcast series, “The Well-Read Anarchist.” In this series, James will read the major works of the great anarchist philosophers, from the foundational anarchist writers of the early 19th century right through to the contemporary thinkers of the 21st century. Joining us along the way will be a range of guests who will help to explain and contextualize these works. Be sure to subscribe to the new Well-Read Anarchist RSS feed to stay up-to-date with the latest episodes.

TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome to the Well-Read Anarchist. I’m your host, James Corbett of corbettreport.com, and I’d like to welcome you to this introductory episode of the Well-Read Anarchist podcast, recorded and released on the 12th of February, 2014.

As with any new podcast, a short introduction is in order. For those of you who have been following my work at corbettreport.com for any length of time, you will have seen firsthand my own political development away from the left/right political dichotomy and toward what I call the up/down axis in political philosophy; that is, the spectrum that runs from freedom to tyranny. In traveling up that axis toward the pole of freedom, I, like so many others, flirted with libertarian ideas and a “return to the constitution” before finally embracing the anarchist ideal.

That transformation has been guided by extensive reading in the writings of the great anarchist thinkers, and it is my intention with this podcast series to present that rich anarchist tradition to you, not through exposition or interpretation, but by literally reading these works to you. From the early 19th century thought of the earliest anarchists right through to the work of contemporary philosophers, we are going to read through the foundational works of the great anarchism together, pausing as appropriate to digest what we’ve learned and see how each work fits into the greater context of anarchist thought.

Joining us on this quest will be a number of guests, writers, academics, philosophers and popularizers of anarchist political philosophy. As we begin a study of the writings of each thinker, we will host a discussion with a guest knowledgeable on that subject’s biographical details, their own contributions to philosophy, and how that contribution expands or changes our understanding of anarchism. Key books, essays and writings will be read in their entirety, in single podcast installments or spread out over several episodes as time and space allow. We will also pause along the way to synthesize the material we have read, and to host further discussions about each major work.

This podcast series will be released on a weekly basis each Wednesday. Those who are subscribed to the main Corbett Report podcast rss feed will receive this introductory episode in their podcatcher, but as this is a separate podcast, future episodes will be found in the Well-Read Anarchist’s own podcast feed, which will be hosted, along with the show notes for each episode, on CorbettReport.com. In the coming days, the podcast will also be made available via the iTunes Store.

Thank you for joining me for the introduction to this exciting new podcast series. This is James Corbett of corbettreport.com, inviting you to join me again next week as we begin our study with an examination of the life and work of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.